Ash Wednesday 2015

I couldn’t do it last year. In every previous year that I had helped lead some kind of Lenten worship or Bible study, it had always been the same theme: the Journey of Lent. So last year, tired of journeying, and worrying that it was becoming a cliche, I decided not to talk about journeying of any kind during Lent. There are plenty of other good images and themes anyways. And it was fine. But. What I learned was that even if you don’t talk about the journey of Lent… it’s still journey.

There is something that happens among us as we go through time together from Ash Wednesday towards Easter. That’s what makes a journey.

But what kind of journey is it?

It’s a journey that begins here and now. As we gather for Ash Wednesday, it’s like we are at that part of the map that says “You are here.”

Ash Wednesday is the most honest of our traditions. At its most distinctive moment, Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are dust and to dust we shall return. We are made of the earth at birth, and we are destined to return to the earth at death. That’s who we are. That’s our reality. You are here.

There’s something refreshing about this honesty tho… Throughout life we have moments that remind us of the truth that we are mortal. That we are vulnerable. It’s not that we don’t know the truth. It’s that we hide from it.

In the book of Joel, we have heard a prophet warn the people of the truth. It was not a truth they wanted to hear. Their time was up, impending doom was at their doorstep. The prophet then calls for something interesting. He doesn’t say, let’s keep this quiet […]

He says, gather the people. All the people. The elderly, the children. Even infants. Even busy people — a bride and groom at the altar, in the middle of wedding. Everyone! Gather them around the truth.

This is the journey of Lent.

It can be tempting to imagine Lent as a different kind of journey.

To an outsider, it might seem like Lent tries to simulate darkness and dying. After all, we talk about ashes… we emphasize the cross & the crown of thorns. It might seem like we’re trying to conjure up pain and suffering. Like the hypocrites the Gospel of Matthew who compete for who is suffering more in their fasts. In essence, that kind of Lent takes us from life into death. But Lent is just the opposite. Lent brings us on a journey from death into life.

If dust and ash is where we are, then the empty tomb of Easter is where we are going. That’s the direction of our journey.

From the Ashes we are constantly reborn as co-creators with God. The end of our Lenten journey is life abundant with Jesus Christ — we should never pretend it isn’t. The ‘death’ part of Lent is the honesty about death that already affects our lives. The exploration of places in our life and lives together that are already dying. Things that are in desperate need of resurrection.

We all have this part of us called the ego. That’s the little voice in our heads that is always on the defensive. Always concerned with the survival of our life and reputation. It’s amazing the kinds of torture that our ego will keep us in to avoid the risk of change. Our ego will strangle our life in order to preserve it at all costs. Eventually, we will lose our life trying to hang on to it. That’s a journey from life to death.

Lent is the freedom to travel through life in the other direction. To be honest about the reality of death & suffering, to place our ashes in God’s hands, and to be led into the fullness of life. From death to life.

During the season of Lent we will focus on this journey. We will focus on practices that call our attention to this abundant life. As individuals and as a congregation we will be honest about where are are. And we will live in hope about where our journey will take us.